Black, White or Gray?
by Blackened Silver
Summary: Oliver Wood has his head in the right place as he enters seventh year.But what happens when the Weasley twins involve him in a bet to help him "get a life" and how would things change if an affected and darker version of Leah Thorn comes into the picture?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:Hello all, this is a new fic I am starting, I love Oliver Wood and I love his fics. I was introduced to his stories by my beta's. If you are read such stories, there is a good chance you've read SailingAwaySoftly's fics, (my beta). If you haven't, Go Read !**

**anyway, hope you like my version of Oliver Wood. :D**

**Disclaimer: Anything under copyright with someone else is not mine, but Eva Thorn and the plot is !**

He walked through the barrier confidently only to emerge on the other side for the very last time. This was his last trip to Platform 9¾ as a student. Nostalgia set in as he turned to the steaming red Hogwarts Express. He could see his reflection as a 17 year old just as clearly as he could see it seven years back as an 11 year old. The reflection, though, had obviously changed. He was twice the size, in height and in width, but the messy brown hair and warm chocolate eyes were just the same. A small smile crept up his face as he realised this was also his last season as the Quidditch Captain. Next year he will probably lie in the reserves of a professional Quidditch team.

That was his dream, to be a professional Quidditch player and ultimately be the captain of the winning team. But before that, he had to win the Quidditch cup with Gryffindor. He had to; this was his last year at Hogwarts and last year as captain. And leaving on a winning note will boost his chances of becoming a professional. _This is THE year. And this year will be mine,_he thought as he climbed onto the train. He shuffled through the aisle looking for a free compartment, or at least one in which he knew the people.

And as luck would have it, his wish was soon answered. As he passed a compartment full of scowling Slytherins, he was pulled into the next one by two pairs of hands.

"Oliver!"

"Wood!"

"Gred, Forge." grinned Oliver Wood.

The Weasley twins grinned back at him. Oliver was 'cool' in their eyes. He was no doubt a Hitler of Scottish descent in the case of Quidditch but he was as cool as the coolest get, off the pitch of course. They helped him get his trunk stowed away along with his black owl, Cinder. Once they were all settled in the compartment they got round to catching up with each other.

"So how was your summer, guys? Played any Quidditch, or did your pranks take up all of your time?"

"Dude, did the dementors-"

"-catch up with you? You make us practice-"

"-enough during school. Pranks of course! In fact, we are-"

"Forge!" cried one of the red heads, indignantly.

Oliver just laughed at the two. With Fred and George around, it was difficult to have a dull moment. "Shut up you two! You guys need to focus a bit more on Quidditch, I don't doubt your abilities but if you can't find time for Quidditch among your pranks, you might end up lagging behind. I plan to get the team to practice much more this year. I guess we didn't practice enough last year to win the Cup, but this year we will."

Fred and George seriously looked scandalised. They looked at each other and then back at him, their faces now forming crooked grins.

"We need to get you a life," said Fred as George nodded in agreement.

"Life? Man, I have a life. A good one at that. I have my focus-"

"Exactly! We need to shift your focus a bit," said George this time.

Oliver looked between the two warily. Knowing them, this meant something he didn't want to know.

"Oliver, mate, tell me, how many girls have you dated in the past four years?" asked Fred with a smirk.

Oliver returned his smirk. He was the most sought after guy in his year, part of it attributed to his obvious Quidditch manic persona and the rest to his boyish charm. There was probably no girl immune to him, except those who were on his team and were exposed to his orthodox Quidditch regimes.

"Seriously? We all know about that, there is no need to get onto that track."

"Mate, you don't get it. How many of these girls have you dated more than a week?"

Oliver opened his mouth to reply but it quickly snapped shut. He had no response because it was true. There had been no girl in his life that he would put before Quidditch. Thus, he always ended up breaking things off with said girl, as neither could he give her enough time and neither was she satisfied with the little time he gave her. But then again, soon after that girl, another would arrive. And thus the cycle continued, giving him an image of a player, no pun intended.

George, or was it Fred, had a triumphant look on his face, "You got to give some time to things other than Quidditch."

"Look guys, this is my last year and I have to pay attention-"

"That is the point, Oliver. This is your last year to finally live _the_life."

Oliver sighed in exasperation, knowing it was absolutely no use fighting the two. "So what do you want me to do? Get a girl and stick with her for the entire year? Good luck in finding one who will put up with me."

That is when the twins' grins became the mischievous smirks, which would make anyone known to them nervous.

"Mate, we won't find one-"

"-that will be pure fluke. But it's your job-"

"-to make sure she does stick-"

"–with you for a year."

Oliver rolled his eyes at them. "What? Is this some sort of challenge?"

"Exactly," said the two voices together.

Oliver paled as he looked between the two. If there was one thing Oliver Wood hated, it was losing. Losing in anything, even the most immaterial losses weren't acceptable. Fred and George knew they had him well cornered and couldn't help grinning.

Oliver groaned as he ran his fingers through his brown hair, messing it up further. "Fine, but hold your brooms a second, if I end up doing this, so do you two. Get away from your pranks and '_get a life_,_'_ as you say." Oliver knew the twins swore by their pranks and each other, and it was highly unlikely that the two would agree to this.

The two brothers looked at each other; it seemed as if they were having some silent conversation between them. But after a bit they both thrust their hands forward to him, as if to seal a deal.

"Done. The first girl we have any physical contact with will be the girl whom we shall spend the entire year with."

Oliver sat agape. This was not what he expected, but as they were agreeing to his terms, there was no way in which he could back out from this. So, in the end, Oliver Wood ended up shaking the hand of each of the Weasley twins in turn, finally sealing the deal which he knew he was never going to come through with.

"Now that that's all decided, let's get down to the stakes," said Fred.

"If I win and you lose, you and the entire team will be at every practice and put everything you got into the matches," said Oliver.

"Mate, we would do that anyway."

"By my standards," added Oliver with a smile.

Fred and George groaned in response, "Fine, but if we win and you lose, you have to leave Quidditch for two full weeks."

"Two weeks? Are you crazy? Do you know what could happen in those two weeks?" he yelled.

"Oliver, we are on the team too, we will strategically place the time so that we don't lose a match alright?" said George with a smirk, knowing that even a day without Quidditch would be pure torture for Oliver.

Oliver growled at them but agreed.

"Oh and another thing, mate, we don't tell anyone on the Quidditch team about this arrangement."

Oliver was about to respond to this, but the compartment door opened. The door opened to reveal a well built, dark haired boy, the same age as Oliver. Liam Thorn was Oliver's best friend; they were so close that they could've been brothers. Living together for seven years could do that to people.

"Liam! How are you?" Oliver sprung up to greet his friend, as they hugged each other.

"Great, I guess. How are you?"

"Good, good."

Liam and his twin sister, Leah, had lost their parents in a car crash the previous Christmas. It had been a blow to them, as their parents were close to them all, they would be after spending several holidays together. Though Liam had been affected, it was nothing compared to how his sister had taken it, the girl who was once a cheerful face with a bubbling persona had turned into a quiet, brooding one over night. But nothing anyone could do or say would help her back to normal.

"And Leah? Did she, you know-?" asked Oliver tentatively.

"Come out of her shell?" laughed Liam darkly. "Yeah she did, but not quite how I expected."

Oliver just nodded, not quite sure what to say while the twins kept mum on the grim subject.

"Oh hell, cut the crap, what have you guys been up to? You all were not to be seen at the platform, what have you been doing all this while?" said Liam, cracking a smile.

And just like that, the atmosphere lightened. The four joked and teased each other, well mainly their all time favourite 'Oliver and Quidditch'. They soon had tears of laughter rolling down their cheeks as the twins described their antics in Egypt.

"You guys are really something." laughed Liam. Oliver turned to Liam as he said, "Hey man, where is Leah? She didn't come with you?"

"Nah, she has this new found attraction for total independence. You'll know to what extent when you see her. Now guys, I'll warn you, don't make any comment on her appearance or on any change in her whatsoever. Of course that is only if you want to reach back to Hogwarts in one piece."

The three stared back quizzically at him, as the compartment door opened to reveal Angelina and Alicia. Fred and George leapt out of their seats as they crashed into Angelina and Alicia respectively, taking them into bone crushing hugs.

"Angy!"

"Alicia!"

"It's SO nice to see you again!" the two chimed together.

Angelina shook Fred off and stared at him as if he had just gone insane while Alicia though thoroughly embarrassed had a small smile on her face. Oliver simply rolled his eyes at them. He too got up to greet his chasers while Liam stowed their trunks away.

As they hugged, another girl came up to the compartment door. Her hair fell down her back in black waves as compared to when her dark brown hair was permanently up in a ponytail. She wore dark skinny jeans and a black grunge t-shirt. She had grown taller and had developed significantly over the summer to anyone who had known her before. But her once cheerful expression now wore a mask of brooding and irritation. Her once twinkling grey eyes now had a cold stony expression as they were now enveloped in black eyeliner. But in all the change in her appearance, her fair complexion looked even paler. Her way into the compartment was blocked by Oliver and her impatience kept growing by the minute. She waited for a couple of minutes before finally clearing the way herself.

Oliver had just finished hugging Angelina and just as he was pulling away he heard a shout,

"Move out of the way, will you, Scot?"

Followed by a shove he felt in his right side, he fell to the ground, losing his balance. And as he looked up, positively livid, to see who had dared to push him around, his jaw dropped. Into the compartment came a much darker version of Leah Thorn.

**A/N: Hope you liked it. :) Review please. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the ridiculous delay, which I am sure, would've made many readers forget about this story altogether. For those kind few, who still read this, here is the next chapter! :D**

**thanks to the reviewers, Lone Panda and sara253. **

**Disclaimer:Anything under copyright by someone else, isn't mine.**

It wasn't just Oliver, four other mouths dropped open as the vaguely familiar girl stepped in. Fred and George couldn't believe their eyes, the very same girl who would've probably clutched them in a hug together, had come in with a very sarcastic smirk curved in her features. And while she would've hugged Angelina and Alicia each in a hug warmly, she merely nodded at them as she proceeded to stow away her trunk in the rack above. Once the trunk was stowed away, Leah looked around at each face, her eyes finally resting on Oliver's.

As she looked down at his figure on the ground, she couldn't help but smirk further. "Really Scott, never thought you would stoop so low as that. Need some help climbing up?"

Oliver scowled at her as he got up to his feet. "No, thank you. But it sure as hell seems you could do with some help."

"Oliver," came Liam's warning voice.

Meanwhile, Leah's eyes had narrowed into slits, she took a step closer to him, "And what do you mean by that?" she spoke in a low dangerous tone.

"I mean, what I say. You. Need. Help." giving a pause after each word. "I know your parents-" Oliver stopped in his tracks, knowing he treaded on a dangerous line.

Leah's expression changed for a second as a flicker of hurt passed through her face, but soon enough, it returned back to its hard shell.

"Shut the hell up, Wood." She hissed. "I don't need a reminder of what my family has gone through by your insolent mouth. So shut the bloody hell up, if you know what is good for you."

"I didn't-" he started but was silenced by a look she gave him.

"I am going to get changed and don't expect me back anytime soon," she announced to the compartment before turning to Oliver and looking him straight in the eye. "He was always right about you." She whispered before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

"Wha-What did she mean by that?" Oliver thought out loud.

Liam shook his head, "Mate, I had told you not to mess with her. She has been going through some pretty rough changes. I figured it was just the route she took to coming to terms with their deaths."

There was an awkward silence after this as Oliver took his seat beside George. Soon the train seemed to be pulling to a stop. Otherwise, the stop considered normal, this time it was way too early to reach the Hogsmeade station. The window pane had begun frosting and the temperature around them immediately dropped a good few degrees.

"What's going on?" whispered Angelina in a hoarse voice. She felt Fred's hand take hers reassuringly and she appreciated that gesture deeply.

Liam had turned a deathly shade of white, "It's the Dementors." His voice trailed away.

It dawned upon them all that the train was being searched, undoubtedly for Sirius Black.

"Dad told us once, after his couple of days in Azkaban-"

"-they feed on happy thoughts. They make the air cold-"

"-very cold. And the Dementor's kiss.." with that Fred's voice trailed away. They didn't need to be told what a dementor's kiss could do to a person. A soulless person, is hardly human enough to be called a person.

"They're getting onto the train." whispered Alicia frantically.

There was a tense silence in the compartment as each one of them waited in dreaded anticipation of what was about to happen next. They held their breath, not making a sound. But a couple of tense minutes later, Liam broke the silence.

"Where is Leah?"

They all froze at his words. Leah was still out there, there, with the dementors. A fear crept up their chest as they thought what this could result in. Before anyone could utter a word in response, Oliver had gotten up and left the compartment.

His heart hammered frantically against his rib cage. She had gone to change, but she wasn't back yet. And considering the rage she left the compartment in, she could do just about anything. If anything were to happen to her, Oliver would never get over his conscience. It had been him, who had managed to get her into such a state and with danger lurking just outside he couldn't help but feel responsible for her.

Oliver ran out of the compartment to find a dark and deserted corridor at his feet. There was a slight chill in the atmosphere, and Oliver instantly felt it reach down to his bones. Memories, the not-so-good memories started flooding his mind. The summer of his tenth year, which had practically changed his life, every year , the time when he saw the Quidditch Cup be handed to another house, the time his first Quidditch broom had been smashed to smithereens by the Whomping Willow. He felt himself get pressed by the memories, when he remembered Leah.

He looked around the corridors once again, peeping into every odd compartment to look for her. As he went deeper into the dark corridor, he found a figure slumped against one of the walls. The figure was visibly shivering and cowering. He could make out a vague outline of the body in the faint moonlight. He had found her. He ran up to her, as he reached out to her, he found that her face was tear stained and her skin cold.

"Leah?" he shook her. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

She simply whimpered in response, seemingly too weak to muster strength. Oliver looked up to find the window behind her, frosting. Turning to his right, he found a black cloaked creature, its head covered underneath a similar hood. The creature seemed to be gliding softly, eerily towards them. Oliver knew what could come ahead, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around Leah and pulled them into the adjoining compartment.

The compartment was dark, and empty. Oliver might have been surprised to find one empty, but as of now, he really didn't care. He made them both sit down on the seats. His eyes were chained to the windowpane of the door to the compartment. The dementors stood right outside the door to their compartment. After a few seconds of holding a bated breath, Oliver heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the dementor move past their compartment.

He then turned his attention to Leah, who was now, not trembling, but still visibly shaken. Her tears had dried and now her face held an expression of fear mingled with anger. She looked up to him, her eyes blazing, but she didn't speak a word. Oliver sat there, waiting for a response from her, for her to speak. But the glare she gave him, it gave him the chills.

A moment or two later, Leah got up from her seat, without a word she walked past him. Only once she was at the doorway to the compartment did she speak.

"I don't need help."

**A/N: thanks for reading, do leave a review. :)**


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